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HOW TO BE A WOMAN (PRISCILLA)

© A24

He's been played by Kurt Russell, Don Johnson, Val Kilmer, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Ron Livingston, Michael Shannon and Austin Butler.

There's been score of films about him on the big and small screen.

But at last there's a movie featuring Elvis Presley that's not entirely about Elvis Presley.

Sofia Coppola's 'Priscilla' tells the story from a different angle, from the perspective of his much younger girlfriend and then wife.

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And it's all the better for it.

Coppola's finest movies have always been about captives in unconventional settings - a Tokyo hotel, Versailles, a school for young ladies in Civil War Virginia.

Often, they are in failing or failed marriages.

By turning her lens on Priscilla Presley, she has another compelling case study.

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Priscilla was just 14 when she met Elvis. 

He was 10 years older than her.

They married seven years later.

These facts will no doubt make 21st Century audiences raise their eyebrows, raising questions as to why he was interested in someone so young.

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Coppola's movie is smart enough to know that is a key question but she also lets the events portrayed speak for themselves and challenges the audience to make their own minds up.

Callie Spaeny plays Priscilla, who blossoms over the course of the film from an impressionable 14 year old into a 28 year old liberated woman.

When we first spot her she is perched on a stool in an American style diner at her father's base near Wisbaden.

With Elvis serving in the military after breaking through back home as a music icon, Priscilla is approached by a member of his entourage to see if she would like to meet the singer at a party.

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On one level this request is treated by the film on a matter of fact level.

However you cannot help feeling it's an odd and uncomfortable approach.

Nevertheless you can see why a young teenage girl like Priscilla might be excited at the prospect of meeting someone like Elvis.

Priscilla still has the nous, though, to say they will need to ask her parents first and, despite the reservations of her stepfather, Ari Cohen's Captain Beaulieu and mother, Dagmara Dominczyk's Ann, she is given permission to attend.

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Coppola and her cinematographer Phillippe Le Sourd capture the moment of excitement as Priscilla is escorted to the party and first sets eyes on Jacob Elordi's Elvis as he holds court in the living room of his military issued house.

Beckoning her over, they strike up an awkward conversation before he entertains partygoers at the piano with a rendition of Jerry Lee Lewis' 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'.

What follows is a rather unorthodox courtship, with the 24 year old Elvis continuing to woo the 14 year old with her parents' permission.

Always courteous, always a gentleman, he goes all put to impress on them his intentions are good.

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Nevertheless, you still can't help feeling uncomfortable watching it.

When he returns to the US after military service to re-ignite his recording career and build a movie career, he maintains contact with Priscilla and arranges, with her parents' consent, for her to be flown from Germany to Memphis to spend time with him and his family in Graceland.

The initial visit paves the way for a more formal arrangement where she relocates to Memphis, attending a convent school while living with the Presleys.

Eventually this leads to marriage and motherhood but at what cost?

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Working from Priscilla's memoir 'Elvis and Me,' Coppola shows early on in the film the weeds that will eventually choke the marriage.

One of those is during a pillow fight where he reveals an explosive temper.

The alarm on Spaeny's face every time Priscilla spies a magazine or newspaper article hinting at her boyfriend's on-set romance with Ann-Margret is a more constant concern.

The subsequent discovery of love letters from her boyfriend's co-star only make matters worse.

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There's no doubt in Coppola's account that Priscilla was besotted with him and he initially with her.

However as the film progresses, it becomes clear Elvis' fame and the attention that it draws from other women - even in Priscilla's presence - is a real problem.

It isn't the only one.

Once she arrives in Graceland for the first time, Priscilla is paraded around the singer's entourage like a prized possession.

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Before long, he is dictating what she should and should not wear, the colour of her hair, whether patterns suit her.

Popping pills and even taking LSD, he insists on Priscilla doing so as well.

In one scene, when it is revealed Priscilla has been out for the count for two days, she has effectively become his Sleeping Beauty.

Forced to revolve her life around his career and his needs, Priscilla is imprisoned in the gilded cage of Graceland while he goes off to Hollywood to shoot movies or perform on tour or on Las Vegas residencies.

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When he asks for her view about a song, he explodes when he doesn't like her opinion.

There's a huge power imbalance in the relationship.

And yet despite these negatives, Coppola is understanding and tells the story with compassion.

'Priscilla' isn't fixated on debunking the Elvis myth.

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We understand why she falls for a man who at times shows remarkable generosity and affection.

But the question niggles throughout: is he in love with her or with the idea of someone that he can mould on his terms because she is so young and impressionable?

After the frenetic pace and bombast of Baz Luhrmann's 'Elvis,' Coppola takes a much more subtle, thoughtful approach and it's a better film as a result.

The movie dives much deeper into the psyche of both characters, allowing the audience to consider the evidence about a troubled and troubling relationship.

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Shooting digitally, Le Sourd has different colour palettes for different stages in Priscilla's life.

The scenes in Germany are darker and sombre. The initial American sequences burst with colour with all the giddiness of a Doris Day film.

Towards the end of the film the darker palettes return.

Stacey Battat's costumes and Patricia Cuccia's set decoration help accentuate these differences.

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Intelligently paced by Sarah Flack, Coppola and her film editor smartly deploy needle drops by Frankie Avalon, Brenda Lee, The Righteous Brothers and The Ramones alongside later electronic sounds from the likes of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Dan Deacon.

Coppola extracts a wonderful central performance from Spaeny - so good it won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and has deservedly netted her a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination for Best Motion Picture - Drama.

If there is any justice, it should be on the SAG, BAFTA and Oscar shortlists too because Spaeny brings a maturity to the role, enabling her to convincingly transform from a young girl into an independent woman.

Coming on the back of his recent charismatic turn on 'Saltburn,' Elordi makes for a convincing Elvis - portraying him a charming good ole boy who increasingly becomes more egocentric and controlling.

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It's a refreshing take on an icon who has tended to beatified by some and it poses important questions about his behaviour.

In their respective supporting roles, Dominczyk, Cohen, Tim Post as Vernon Presley, Lynne Griffin as Elvis' grandmother and Stephanie Moore as his stepmother all contribute.

At its core, 'Priscilla' is about the dynamics of a relationship where one partner imposes his will on the other.

The film is smart enough to explain why someone would be seduced into such a relationship.

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However it is also plain that in order for Priscilla to truly thrive, the power imbalance in her relationship with Elvis must be addressed.

'Priscilla,' therefore, becomes a tale of female liberation from a toxic male environment.

Its sense of a woman growing up and breaking free is brilliantly captured in Spaeny's gradual physical transformation onscreen.

Easily Coppola's best film since 'Lost In Translation' in what has been an accomplished directorial career, I'd take this film over ten Baz Luhrmann Elvis biopics, anyday.

('Priscilla' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on January 1, 2023)

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